Radiolight

Ok, this one was a disappointment. I hoped for some Firewatch vibes, but the game couldn’t come even close, with its boring story and bland dialogue. Bread and butter of these types of games (walking simulators) is its story, atmosphere, curiosity to find out what happened, how, why. I had none of these during my playthrough and just wanted to see the end as soon as possible. Exploring campsite and surrounding environment deep into the woods while chatting with your partner over the radio about your findings and theories sound very promising (again, Firewatch did it masterfully) but this one comes short in every aspest.

Boomerang X

This one was awesome, arena shooter with unusually high skill ceiling. You have only one weapon, but you get introduced to a couple of different skills along the way as new enemies and more complicated arenas come into spotlight. One of them is bullet time and you will use it constantly because hitting enemies’ weakspots in full speed is really hard. I barely managed to beat final boss fight, was so close to activate in-game provided health cheat, but I’m glad I didn’t in the end. You also have achievements for very skilled players to beat levels under certain amount of time and separately without using bullet time skill. I only did some for couple of first levels and fucked out of there.
Icing on the cake is new game + that unlocks after beating the game with new enemy compositions and that ups the difficulty significantly. Only managed to beat 3 out of 13 levels, realized this is out of my skill range and uninstall the game. :)

Planet of Lana II

Won this in a group giveaway and since I haven’t played the first game before I downloaded it and finish it right before playing this one. I’m glad to report that sequel was so much better. First game only had the most basic puzzles and you will know how to solve them from the get-go, no thinking necessary. Sequel improved immensely in that department, with quantity and especially quality. It is much more like LIMBO now, with escape sequences added on top of nice puzzles to complement the whole experience. They are not like those in Ori games for sure, but still very good and not overused since there are only 2 or 3. End of the game leaves a space for a sequel and I would be happy if that eventually happens.

Card Shark

Before playing this game you don’t need to know anyghing about poker or any other card game. Because you will not playing them, but instead learn how to (successfully) cheat in them. You are constantly introduced to new ways of doing it which keeps the game always fresh.
What I didn’t expect to get here is a good story. I thought that cheating mechanic will be the main part of the game (which it is) and that story will just be there in the background, checking another checkmark. I was so wrong. Interesting characters and quippy dialogues carried the game, I couldn’t wait to finish with the main part just so I could read more of the story. The game has beautiful watercolour esthetic. It all happens in the 18th century France which is a setting that is rarely used.
I liked the game so much that I started another playthrough right after finishing in order to get more achievements. Another little gem from Devolver.